Digital Trends

It’s been an exciting year in tech. From the implosion of HD-DVD at the year’s very beginning, right up to the final race to produce a viable iPhone competitor in time for Christmas, companies have relentlessly pushed the bar ever upward despite the bottom falling out of the economy as months worse on. Smaller, easier and cheaper seemed to be the industry’s driving design focus this year, and the products borne of these qualities are some of the most amazing – and most affordable – we’ve ever seen. On this brink of New Year’s Eve, we’ve taken a moment to look back at some of the coolest innovations we’ve seen over the last 365 days.

 Apple iPhone 3G

The first-generation iPhone may have been 2007’s child, but the second generation, which bested its older brother in every way and truly turned the iPhone into the everyman’s phone with a massive price cut, belongs to 2008. From the sleeker design and corrected design issues (universal headphone jack, anyone?) to the inclusion of major features that were missing from the original (3G Internet access and GPS), the second generation iPhone turned Apple’s solid first shot into a bullseye.